Five More Arrests over Louvre Heist

Five more suspects were arrested on Wednesday night (29 October) in connection with the Louvre heist.

One is believed to be a member of the four-man team that carried out the raid, who was identified through DNA evidence and seen on CCTV footage.

The two suspects arrested earlier (on 25 October) have “partially admitted” their involvement in the crime, according to French investigators.

Napoleonic crown jewels valued at over $100m were stolen on Sunday 19 October just as the museum, in Paris, was opening to visitors.

The thieves used mechanical ladder to reach a second-floor balcony, cut through the display cases with power tools, then escaped on motorbikes.

Laure Beccuau, the public prosecutor in Paris, said there was currently no evidence to suggest the theft was an inside job. None of the those arrested worked at the museum.

The four-man gang who carried out the raid left behind a motorbike helmet which provided a crucial hair sample believed to be linked to one of the suspects, together with multiple DNA samples.

The Louvre, the most-visited museum in the world, has since moved the remaining crown jewels to a vault at the Bank of France.

Source: DCLA

De Beers Rough Sales Triple in Q3

De Beers sold $700m worth of rough diamonds across its two sights in the three months to 30 September – more than tripling the $213m recorded during the same period last year.

In the third quarter of 2024, the company held only one sight, having cancelled the August session due to weak demand.

During the Q3 2025 sights, specific assortments were offered at discounted prices. De Beers no longer provides sight by sight updates.

It noted that trading conditions “continued to be challenging,” although consumer demand for natural diamond jewelry remained broadly stable, particularly in the US.

The company said progress seen in the first half of 2025 was hindered by newly imposed US tariffs on diamond imports from India, according to its production report published on 28 October.

However, it welcomed the recent exemption granted for natural diamond imports from countries participating in “aligned partner” trade agreements, announced last month.

Meanwhile, quarterly production increased year-on-year by 38 per cent, to 7.7m carats, although it is down 5 per cent for the year to date (17.9m carats).

Production guidance for 2025 is unchanged at 20 to 23m carats.

Source: IDEX

Alrosa to Extract Gold as Byproduct of Diamond Mining

Alrosa plans to extract gold from its diamond-bearing alluvial deposits in Mirny, in Russia’s Sakha Republic.

The move comes as demand for natural diamond continues to slide, and gold prices reach record highs.

Alrosa, Russia’s state-controlled miner, announced on Friday (24 October) that it was “considering extracting gold as a byproduct during diamond mining at the Mirny-Nyurba Mining and Processing Division”.

Gold was first found in the area in 2020 and Alrosa says a team of geologists has so far recovered 433kg of it.

The proposal is that gold will be recovered as a byproduct from diamond-bearing sands and placer deposits (accumulations of valuable minerals) in the Mirny area. Alrosa will use existing processing facilities.

In 2024, the company bought the Degdekan gold deposit in the Magadan region – in a notable departure from its core activity of diamond mining.

It said it would invest over $100m in the project, which is expected to produce about 3.3 tonnes of gold annually when it reaches full capacity around 2030.

Source: DCLA

Post-Tariff Slump in US Imports of Swiss Watches

Swiss watch exports to the US plunged by more than 55 per cent in September, in what the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry Exports (FHS) described as a “huge correction”.

Foreign sales surged in the weeks before the US introduced a 39 per cent tariff on Swiss imports on 7 August, as manufacturers front-loaded shipments. 

Since then exports to the US have slumped, down by 23.9 per cent in August and now by 55.6 per cent in September.

“Without this expected but nonetheless extraordinary development, Swiss watch exports would have grown by 7.8%,” the FHS said in its latest update.

Hong Kong and China both saw a marked reversal of fortunes, from double-digit declines in August to double-digit increases in September. But that wasn’t enough to outweigh the US plunge.

Total Swiss watch exports fell by 3.1 per cent during the month to CHF 2.0bn (USD 2.5bn). The UK became the single biggest buyer, with imports up 15 per cent to CHF 173m ($218m), an 8.7 per cent market share.

The overall decline took cumulative exports for the first nine months of the year to CHF 19.0bn (USD23.9bn), an overall decline of 1.2 per cent. 

Source: DCLA

Napoleon’s Diamond Brooch Leads Sotheby’s Sale

Treasures that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte are to be offered for sale by Sotheby’s Geneva on 12 November.

Details of the auction were revealed on Friday (24 October), less than a week after the devastating raid on the Louvre, in which items from the French crown jewels, valued at over $100m, were stolen.

Highlight of the Royal & Noble Jewels Sale is Napoleon’s unique brooch featuring old mine and mazarin-cut diamonds that was pinned to his hat during the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.

At its center is a large oval diamond weighing 13.04 carats, surrounded by nearly 100 old mine-cut diamonds arranged in two concentric rows.

The brooch was seized by the victorious Prussian army as the defeated Napoleon fled.

It appears for the first time at auction with an estimate of CHF 120,000 to 200,000 (USD 150,000 to 250,000).

“In his haste to flee Waterloo, where his armies had been overwhelmed by the combined forces of the British and Prussian armies, Napoleon had to abandon some of his carriages when they got stuck in a muddy road a few miles away from the battlefield – including the carriage containing those precious belongings,” Sotheby’s said.

Three days later the brooch was presented to Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III as a battle trophy.

It remained within the House of Hohenzollern for centuries, and passed down to emperors of Germany. It has been part of a different private collection for the last few years.

Source: DCLA

Rare Half-Pink 37.4-Carat Diamond Unearthed in Botswana

A remarkable two-coloured natural diamond has been discovered in Botswana, astonishing experts with its size and formation. The gem half pink and half colourless weighs an impressive 37.41 carats and measures approximately 24.3 x 16 x 14.5 millimetres, according to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).

The GIA describes the stone as having formed in two distinct geological stages. Sally Eaton-Magaña, Senior Manager of Diamond Identification at the GIA, explained that the pink section likely began as colourless before undergoing plastic deformation possibly caused by a mountain-forming event millions of years ago. This natural deformation altered the crystal lattice, giving rise to the diamond’s vivid pink hue. The colourless section, in contrast, appears to have formed later under more stable conditions.

Pink diamonds are among the rarest gems on Earth, prized for their beauty and scientific intrigue. Unlike coloured diamonds that owe their hue to trace elements or radiation exposure, pink diamonds result from structural distortions within the crystal lattice. This phenomenon must occur under highly specific pressure and temperature conditions too little deformation and the diamond remains colourless; too much and it turns brown.

“It’s a geological balancing act like Goldilocks,” noted Curtin University geologist Luc Doucet, referencing the fine threshold that determines a diamond’s colour outcome.

What makes this new discovery even more extraordinary is its size. While other bi-coloured diamonds have been documented, they are typically no larger than 2 carats. The 37.4-carat specimen from Botswana represents a significant leap in both scale and scientific importance.

The diamond was unearthed at Lucara Diamond Corporation’s Karowe mine, one of the world’s most productive sources of exceptional diamonds. The Karowe mine has previously yielded some of the most celebrated finds in modern history, including the 2,488-carat “Motswedi” diamond, the second-largest rough diamond ever recovered, and the 62-carat “Boitumelo” pink diamond.

This latest discovery further cements Botswana’s position at the forefront of the global diamond industry and provides scientists with another remarkable glimpse into the complex natural processes that create the Earth’s most coveted gemstones.

Source: DCLA

Turning Point, Finally, for Chow Tai Fook

Chow Tai Fook (CTF) says sales across its 6,000 outlets rebounded in the three months to 30 September as gold price surged, following on from five consecutive quarters of decline.

China’s biggest jewelry retailer (by store count) said the Q2 2026 results “marked a significant turning point of our business”.

Growth in retail sales value (RSV) for the quarter was 4.1 per cent, after five quarters with an average decline of over 18 per cent.

The recovery was driven by CTF’s 151 non-Mainland stores, most of them in Hong Kong and Macau, which reported an RSV growth of 11.4 per cent.

Sales at its 5,663 stores in Mainland China rose by a more modest 3.0 per cent.

Overall CTF benefited from soaring gold prices, which saw a significant increase in the average selling price of gold jewlery and gold products sold by weight and at fixed prices.

In its Unaudited Key Operational Data, the Hong Kong-based company said its signature collections had sustained strong sales momentum, and it had continued to make steady progress in its brand transformation.

During the quarter, CTF closed 300 under-performing stores.

“Our current priorities on retail network management remain unchanged, which are to sustain market leadership and enhance the overall financial health of our retail network by maximising store productivity,” the company said.

Source: DCLA